Toxic Thoughts and the Four Elements

What element do you think about to get rid of toxicity?

Today in my acupuncture session, I had a fascinating conversation about toxic thoughts. I shared with my acupuncturist my “message dream” in which I heard the phrase “toxic thoughts are water soluble” over and over again.

I told her how that image had turned into something of a mantra for me these past couple of weeks. We human beings are essentially made of water, and I’ve been visualizing clear, clean water flowing through my veins…dissolving any toxicity that might find its way in via bad food, negative thinking, polluted air, and more. Water, purifying, cleansing water.

She then shared how she imagines toxicity–as wind. She visualizes herself as a screen door, able to feel the toxic wind and live with it, but just watching it blow through her, unable to stick or hold onto her body or mind.

Wow – between the two of us, we hit on two of the four essential elements. I thought I’d give the other two a try.

Fire seems like a gimme, right? Like those little pieces of flint-y paper that burst into a spark-flame and incinerate? In the purifying fire of a clear mind, toxic things will simply consume and be gone.

Earth is a little more tricky, because it conjures an image of being buried – not something we want to do with toxic thoughts. But here’s my attempt–think about dirt as the rich, fertile remains of something that was rotten and dying (like the contents of a compost pile, aka leftover salad from last week). Imagine toxic things crumbling into clean, dark earth, ready to receive the seeds of something new and alive.